


Closer

by foxjar



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Canon Era, F/F, Menstruation, Minor Karren von Rosewald & Tsukiyama Shuu, Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 02:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19781509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxjar/pseuds/foxjar
Summary: Matsumae didn't catch on to Karren's secret as early as she would have liked.100 words of a ship with no fic yet.





	Closer

Karren was ten years old when Matsumae first met her, wide-eyed and exhausted from her journey to Japan. She was Kanae to her back then, a boy who had just lost his entire family back in Germany.

Matsumae didn't catch on to her secret as early as she would have liked. Being older, she should have been the one to help Karren when she needed it. She should have been there for her, in ways beyond teaching her how to fight — how to protect herself and the Tsukiyama family — and how to serve.

When she thinks of her first period, she remembers how her mother rubbed her back and explained everything to her. How it was strange to her at the time, but natural. Matsumae wishes she could have given this to Karren, easing her burden even if only a little.

Instead, Karren was alone. She held her secret so close, a second skin she never intended to let anyone else see.

Matsumae is here for her now. She makes excuses for Karren when the pain becomes too much for her to hunt or serve Shuu. It fills her up with a strange sense of pride as she takes on double the work, wanting to carry the burden herself. It isn't just because she feels guilty for not being there to support Karren when she was younger, either, nor does she expect any sort of compensation.

She just likes being close to her: helping her, guiding her. Although Karren is twenty now, a woman grown but still learning, Matsumae enjoys teaching her. Maybe it's a remnant from when she worked as one of Shuu's high school teachers — that desire to nurture — or maybe it's something else.

Karren is skilled when it comes to repairing clothes — fixing up worn shoes and mending old shirts — even more than Matsumae, who taught her how. She used to be able to correct her at times, touching her hands as she showed her the various ways to stitch different fabrics.

There's nothing more for her to improve on that Matsumae can teach, at least when it comes to sewing. Still, she likes to oversee her work as it's become a sort of pastime for both of them. She tends to lean close but not too close, never slipping her hands over Karren's like she used to.

Just being this close makes her heart thrum and Matsumae thinks: _If she tried to kiss me, I wouldn't pull away._

Karren never does. Weeks, months, years pass, and still she never turns her head, too absorbed in her task. If it were something for Shuu — fixing a shirt he tore, preparing an exquisite meal — she would work all through the night. Matsumae knows that fire to please their master, to ensure that he has everything he needs and more.

And yet she still wants Karren to turn her way.

_See me. As something more than a mentor._

But Karren's always so wrapped up in pleasing Shuu, she never sees the eyes on her. When she shivers as Matsumae leans in close, breath creeping up her neck, she doesn't pull away. Maybe she doesn't understand what Matsumae wants, how much she desires her touch.

One day, Matsumae grabs her chin, easing her face toward her. When she kisses her they both let out a shaky breath, craving after so long finally quenched. Her lips are smooth like she always dreamed.

Matsumae just wants to be here for Karren, no matter what she might have missed before: both in ways she can put into words — _Liebe_ — and ways she cannot.


End file.
